Four days after lifting the U.S. national team to an historic 1-0 victory over Italy, Dempsey was back at it with Fulham on Sunday, scoring twice in a 5-0 English Premier League triumph over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Dempsey now has 18 goals in all club competitions this season and 12 in EPL play, matching the record for an American player he set in 2010-11.

Newly acquired Russian forward Pavel Pogrebnyak scored the other three for Fulham, which won its third consecutive match and climbed into eighth place at 9-9-9.

The Cottagers led 2-0 when Dempsey got his first of the afternoon in the 56th minute. He raced onto a long through ball from Danny Murphy, deftly rounded the Wolves goalkeeper and finished inside the right post (watch highlights here).

Pogrebnyak added his third five minutes later, and Dempsey put the visitors out of their misery in the 83rd, latching onto a short feed from Mahamadou Diarra and hitting a left-footed blast into the roof of the Wolves’ net.

Dempsey now is among the hottest players in the world. He has 10 goals in the past two months—nine for Fulham and one for the U.S. He’s the seventh-leading scorer in EPL play, and the 18 he has for the Cottagers this season blows away the personal best of 13 he set in 2010-11—and there’s still two months remaining in the current campaign.

“One of my favorite parts of the game is scoring goals and helping your team win games. To come up big when your team needs you is a great feeling. This year it's something I've gotten to experience quite a few times,” Dempsey told Sports Illustrated last week in Genoa. “Hopefully there are more goals in me and I can get to the 20 mark in all competitions ... You want to be making the most of your career and having seasons like this makes you feel good when you look back on what you've done.”

Fulham will visit Aston Villa (6-9-12), home to U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan and defender Eric Lichaj, next Saturday.